Ballistic protection systems are widely used throughout the world in military, police and security applications. The range and types of anti-ballistic protection systems are vast. For example, there is a wide range of heavy duty anti-ballistic protection devices that are commonly employed on and around military vehicles. Much attention has also been given to the individual soldier or policeman. In that regard, much research and development has been devoted to providing improved body armor, for example, in the form of improved helmets, anti-ballistic vests, bulletproof chest protectors, etc.
Ballistic protection systems are widely used throughout the world in military, police and security applications. The range and types of anti-ballistic protection systems are vast. For example, there is a wide range of heavy duty anti-ballistic protection devices that are commonly employed on and around military vehicles. Much attention has also been given to the individual soldier or policeman. In that regard, much research and development has been devoted to providing improved body armor, for example, in the form of improved helmets, anti-ballistic vests, bulletproof chest protectors, etc.
The commercially available pliable and flexible ballistic materials (also known as soft armor) are composed of high performance fibers such as polyethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and the family of aramid fibers. Current research shows development promise of additional fibers and compounds into this group of high performance fibers. This soft armor material has traditionally been limited largely to military and law enforcement personal armor garments, large bomb blankets and limited applications for specialty operations personnel. These ballistic materials qualities such as ballistic effectiveness, flexibility, and pliability have been underutilized for other applications as there were no means of attaching, carrying, fastening, or fitting these materials to these other applications.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for a versatile anti-ballistic protection device that can be configured to protect an individual for specific threat levels and can be carried by an individual and which is designed for a wide range of uses and applications.